Statewide Iowa — The state medical director says while very few Iowa kids are smoking cigarettes these days, there’s been a sharp increase in the use of other kinds of nicotine products.
Dr. Caitlin Pedati says 22 percent of 11th graders admitted on a 2018 survey that they used e-cigarettes to “vape.”
Dr. Pedati, who works in the Iowa Department of Public Health, is state medical director AND state epidemiologist. She says the U.S. Surgeon General has declared e-cigarette use among youth to be an epidemic for good reason.
Research also shows routine nicotine use among teenagers increases anxiety. A 2018 survey found two percent of sixth graders and eight percent of eighth graders admitted they had “vaped” and state officials warn they’re using things that look like wrist watches, computer thumb drives or pens that adults may not recognize as a vaping device.
